The Cambridge Companion to Charles Dickens offers a valuable introduction to Dickens for students and general readers.

List of illustrations; Notes on contributors; Chronology; List of abbreviations and texts; Preface John O. Jordan; 1. The life and times of Charles Dickens Grahame Smith; 2. From Sketches to Nickleby Robert L. Patten; 3. The middle novels: Chuzzlewit, Dombey, and Copperfield Kate Flint; 4. Moments of decision in Bleak House J. Hillis Miller; 5. Novels of the 1850s: Hard Times, Little Dorrit, and A Tale of Two Cities Hilary Schor; 6. The late novels: Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend Brian Cheadle; 7. Fictions of childhood Robert Newsom; 8. Fictions of the city Murray Baumgarten; 9. Gender, family, and domestic ideology Catherine Waters; 10. Dickens and language Garrett Stewart; 11. Dickens and the form of the novel Nicola Bradbury; 12. Dickens and illustrations Richard Stein; 13. Dickens and theatre John Glavin; 14. Dickens and film Joss Marsh; Selected bibliography; Index.